


Strange Alchemy

by Evilawyer



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-11 23:04:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1179011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilawyer/pseuds/Evilawyer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all means... <i>something</i>.  The Doctor knows that much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strange Alchemy

The TARDIS seems a very crowded place these days. It's been more crowded, certainly, but the Doctor has noticed how Tegan and Turlough, when they are together, seem to take up more space than their physical presence. The atmosphere around them is dense and tight. Close. 

The Doctor may not feel the pull of attraction the way humans do, but he can spot it when he sees it. The relaxed comfort between Ian and Barbara, Jamie's polite doting on Victoria --- all signs of affection right there on board his TARDIS. Those signs warmed his hearts in a way that Time Lords weren't supposed to let happen and always made him thankful that his companions were proof that the creatures of the universe could care for one another.

It isn't that way with Tegan and Turlough.

They fight when it would be simpler and more sensible to leave each other alone, and yet they seek each other out. Turlough, for all his clear frustration with her, has taken to worrying after Tegan ever since Nyssa left. The Doctor is quite certain that Turlough is never aware of how much his relief shows on his face when they find Tegan after she's wandered off, even when he's been complaining that she has an irritating habit of stumbling off into danger. The Doctor is equally sure that Tegan has no idea how worried she sounds when she's impatiently calling Turlough's name after he suddenly drops from sight when the three of them are investigating. Then there's the way they stand closer to each other than is strictly necessary, the way they help each other up off the control room floor when the TARDIS gets temperamental, the way they look at each other when they aren't arguing. It all means... _something_. The Doctor knows that much. 

They're pulled towards each other as though they carry opposite atomic charges and they neither know how nor want to reverse the polarity. More than once, the Doctor has felt like he should make his excuses and leave the control room to leave the two of them to whatever it is they really mean to do with each other when they bicker and argue. He actually did once or twice, and was careful to not carelessly wander back too early. There are some moments even he shouldn't interrupt.

It's not purely affection; clearly, it's not that. It's not purely lust, either; the Doctor knows that would have burned out long ago. It's got to be some strange mix of the two, compounded by some strange alchemy the Doctor hasn't yet encountered into some emotion he doesn't yet understand. 

Which is quite all right. The Doctor can cope with some mystery in the universe.


End file.
